arrival numero dos

So, I'm back. wheyyy.

I arrived in London Heathrow around 9am GMT after a very annoying 10 hour flight as I was sat right next to a very flabby lady who kept putting her arm down on my remote and switching the channel as I was watching movies ("Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" (crap) and the second half of "The Proposal" which I've already seen) and I had to keep poking her arm flab to get her attention TO GET THE F OFF. I had this problem because once again my personal tv, while being lovely and high tech, did not run the normal entertainment programme where you can actually choose what you want to watch instead of having the channels just play the same crappy movies over and over. Also, I was sat in front of some girl who seemed about my age who kept poking the back of my chair, right around where her front pocket / table would have been. She was taking things out and in ALL FLIGHT LONG. Or she was just curled up and kicking at it whenever her foot slipped, which is highly possible because I definitely had her dirty socky foot graze my elbow every now and then.

ALSO, I thought I'd be smart, cheat the system, choose my seat behind an exit row because exit row seats can't put their chairs back and for once I wouldn't have someone's stupid chair trying to impale my face. The online plane diagram lied. I was not behind the exit row. I was a whole other row behind the exit seat and oh boy, did the old fart sitting in front of me have a problem with sitting up straight like a normal human being. He definitely shoved it all the way down even through take-off and landing and there was a flight attendant sitting right in front of him and I was glaring at her throughout the flight because SHE NEEDED TO FLIPPING DO HER JOB.

So I slept. And watched a bit of Planet Earth on my laptop which I had to squeeze between my lap and the stupid old man's seat in front of me. The food was crap, I was cold, couldn't fall asleep because it was horribly uncomfortable -- you know those "personal well-being" videos they play to teach you how to do yoga sitting down or something? Screw those, it's a fricking yoga exercise just fitting into economy. I shot daggers at all the business and first class seats as I walked out.

Then I had a 3 hour layover in London, which was fine. I peed, sat on a bench, and put in my UK sim card and texted the 4 people who cared to know I was back in England. Then I called Becca and talked to her for a good 45 minutes which was nice. I'd missed a bit of some outings and adventures but that's alright. We'll have plenty more to come, I'm sure.

Then I decided to call my storage company to ask them when they could drop off my stuff back at Gabs (the delivery which I have already paid for as it's in the overall payment) and the lovely man on the phone told me that the next available drop off date would be Thursday, October 1st. Not, tomorrow afternoon Thursday (as in, today). No, a WEEK FROM TOMORROW (today). I actually laughed in the man's phoneface and he said that what most students are doing is taking taxis to the place and picking up their stuff. Seven medium sized boxes of storage in a hired cab? Yeah? No.

Also, I checked them out on some maps and turns out, of course, they're in the middle of fecking nowhere. How expensive do you think it's going to be to go all the way there and back? It's probably as far if not further than the airport and that's about £20, so £40 to pick up my stuff that I've already paid to have delivered?

LIFE IS SO FLIPPING AWESOME.

So I have nothing. I have the clothes I arrived with and essential toiletries and my laptop. No sheets, no pillow, no towels, lamps, comforter, DEODORANT (because I thought, hey I have a new one waiting for me in Manchester, I can leave this one in LA! Dumbass.), random things needed for existence. Oh and the mattress pad I bought and was storing in my wardrobe? No where to be seen. Score. Which means last night, after my 10 hour flight to London, hour flight to Manchester, bit of running about, I slept on a very hard spring stuffed mattress with two hoodies as my pillow.

Luckily, Becca kept a suitcase of mine and in it I found a very warm blanket and A TOWEL! SO I CAN SHOWER! I don't remember if I stored my shampoo but I bought new bottles (& deodorant) anyways and now I can live like a normal clean decent human being.

I also bought a new cactus (named Maeby, pictures to come) and some posters (gorgeous black&white Paris and STAR TREKKKKK). I've yet to start decorating however as all of my sticky tack and other posters and such are in storage.

As for arriving in Manchester specifically: I got to Gabs, brought in my stuff, no one was in reception so I waited around a bit and a first year walked in and turns out she's from HAWAII, yaaaay. And she was really excited to meet me (so were her parents, who quickly gleaned all the information they possibly could off me). Oh, and she's doing a foundation year in Life Sciences! So she's even in my faculty and she's really nice.

I had to go over to another hall across the way to get the receptionist to get my keys so eventually I got into my flat (1) and my room (3) and it doesn't feel that much bigger but it's longer and the ceiling is lower and the WINDOW IS AT NORMAL HEIGHT and I have built in shelves which is nice. I'll show you pictures when I take them.

I visited Becca and Anisah and Kat's flat which was strange. Fun but strange. It's really weird that they're not at Gabs. I don't have anyone to sit with at dinner. So that's fantastic. The new fresher's seem nice though and participative (word?) so I'll eventually get to know them through various events. Like tonight where I have to attend some Heroes vs Villains party because I'm on the hall committee. Woohoo.

Today I had to rush to North Campus to go to my PASS (Peer Assisted Study Scheme) leader training so I can mentor little firsties! It was ALL DAY LONG which was alright but I missed the last day of Fresher's Fair so make that two years out of two that I've missed the Fresher's Fair. Third time's a charm? I met some nice people though I'm not going to be working with them as they're all in different courses. Oh well! I thought I had another training session tomorrow morning but thank goodness I don't but now I've got to sort out some other crap like financial registration for which the line is, I've heard, two hours long. Excellent.

Anything else? This is quite long as it is. Anisah's good, Becca's good (and back to blonde!), Kat's good, Amina is not back yet ... and Aamna's not coming back at all. :(

:(

:(

A moment of silence for the sadness. Luckily she's still in the country so she can train it up whenever she wants / can afford it. But I'm already missing her. Sigh.

I can't believe I'm back in Manchester. Feels like I've never left but also like it's been forever at the same time. But mostly like I've never left. I hate that summer already feels like a distance blip in my memory and I've just got to hanker down for a very very long year. This is going to last ages. But there's something different about this time and I think it's just because I feel like I've picked up right where I left off so I'm not starting over, which is nice.

This Saturday we're planning a trip to IKEA, woop! Best place in the world! Hoping to get some good stuff, make my room more homey, etc etc. Hopefully, I'll get going on my decorating because I honestly won't have time once classes and labs and PASS sessions and tutorials start up. But it'll be good. Ooh, I should get fairy lights!

Oh, dear, gotta run to that party! Hope you're all swell this semester!

ps

(me)

(me&friends)